"The key to understanding the Bible is to look for Jesus in the Bible. Jesus is the hero of the Bible. If you read the Bible and don't find Jesus, re-read it! The Bible has one hero, His name is Jesus; one villain, that is Satan; one problem, that is sin; one solution, that is salvation. That is what the Bible is all about." -Dr. Adrian Rogers

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor as thyself.

Matthew 22:37-39

Did you know that there are two
commandments that, if you obey those two, you will automatically be obeying
every other commandment written in the Bible? To help you better understand
this concept, let’s take a look at the Ten Commandments:

1. “You shall have no other gods
before me.”

2. “You shall not make for yourself
any idol.”

3. “You shall not take the name of
God in vain.”

4. “Remember the Sabbath Day, to
keep it holy.”

There is a reason why Jesus
answered the question, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” the
way that He did. You see the Ten Commandments are broken up into two parts. The
first four are regarding our relationship with God, and the last six are
regarding our relationship with our fellow man.

5. “Honor your father and your
mother.”

6. “You shall not murder.”

7. “You shall not commit adultery.”

8. “You shall not steal.”

9. “You shall not lie.”

10. “You shall not covet.”

Jesus’ answer is really
self-explanatory. If I love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, I
will not worship any other god, I will not commit idolatry, I will not use
blasphemy, and I will use the Lord’s Day as a day of rest and worship.
Likewise, if I love my neighbor as myself, I will honor my parents, I will not
commit murder, I will not commit adultery, I will not steal, I will not lie,
and I will not covet my neighbors possessions. It really is as simple as that.

Having said all that, the moral
crisis that we are in as a nation today is a direct result of the breaking of
what Jesus said are the greatest commandments ever written. Now, I know what
some of you are thinking: “Why can’t we just obey the last six and forget about
the first four”? The reason is simple—the last six and the first four go hand
in hand. Take the first commandment for example—“You shall have no other gods
before me.” To obey this commandment is to obey the last six commandments. If I
serve the god of self, what is keeping me from dishonoring my parents? What is
keeping me from committing murder? What is keeping me from committing adultery?
What is keeping me from stealing? Lying? Coveting? In order to obey the last
six commandments, I must love God and realizes that breaking any of the last
six commandments is wrong only because God said so. Simple as that.

Now, let’s apply this to the days
in which we are now living. Psalm 33:12 says, “Blessed is the nation whose God
is the LORD.” If we as a nation would put God first in everything we do, I
really do believe we would receive blessings like you wouldn’t believe. Matthew
6:33 says, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and
all these things shall be added unto you.” When we neglect God, we deprive
ourselves of His greatest blessings.

Today, we are killing our unborn at
a rate that you would not believe. My friend, your unborn child is your neighbor. If every mother’s
child loved his neighbor as himself, every abortion clinic in this world would
go bankrupt. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. If everyone truly loved
his neighbor as he does himself, the murder rate would go down, the divorce
rate would go down, and the overall crime rate would go down. There would be no
lying. There would be no stealing. Every home would be a happy home.

As you go about your day today, let
me challenge you to ask yourself this question before you say or do anything:
By doing this, am I honoring God and am I treating my neighbor the way I would
want my neighbor to treat me? I truly believe that asking yourself that
question will make a great change in you and a great change in our nation.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as
Lord of your life, I beg you to do so today. You cannot truly love God with all
your heart soul, mind, and strength until you come to repentance and faith in
Jesus Christ. Likewise, you cannot love your neighbor as yourself until you
realize how much God loves you. If you will repent of your sin and trust in
Jesus Christ alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

This nation is in a moral crisis. Notice I didn’t say that I believe that this nation is in a moral
crisis. This nation is in a moral
crisis, whether we believe it or not. Last week I wrote about the role of the
president of this great nation; however, today, I am writing about the role of
the people of this great nation.

In America, it is all about “we the
people,” isn’t it? Then what must we the people do in order to take back this
nation for Almighty God? The answer is in the above passage of Scripture. Every
individual must acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of his life. If every red-blooded
American would do that, this nation would be unstoppable. However, like I have
always said, whether this nation rises or continues to fall is left up to God’s
people. If Jesus Christ is the Lord of your life already, my friend, you must
start living like it.

Let me ask you a very important,
very personal question: What dictates the decisions that you make? Or should I
say who dictates the decisions that
you make? Is it you? Is it your family? Is it your friends? Is it the general
public? Or is it God and His Word? This nation is in a moral crisis. You want
to know how I know? I know because I have read God’s Word and it tells me that
murder is wrong (Exodus 20:13), yet we as Americans have legalized the murder
of our own unborn children. In many states, it is legal for two men or two
women to come together in an immoral relationship and call it marriage, even
though God said in the beginning that marriage is to be between one man and one
woman, for life. America is in a moral crisis, and it is all because people
have allowed someone other than God to dictate the decisions that they make every
day.

Billy Graham once prayed this
prayer, and it describes the condition of America today perfectly:

“Heavenly Father, we come before You
today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know
Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we
have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We
have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness
and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have
shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline
our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and
called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it
ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it
freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our
forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts
today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free.”

So what must we do to fix the
problem that we ourselves have created by becoming silent? If you are a
born-again child of God, I suggest you start listening to your Heavenly Father
and stop listen to your fellow man. As Adrian Rogers used to say, “Get a
bulldog grip on the truth of the Word of God.” Speak up for His truth and speak
out against all evil. If it means you have to stand alone, stand alone. But
never compromise the Word of God.

Fellow Christians, we are going to
have to change this nation one person at a time, and it starts with you. We
must be changed as individuals before we can be changed as a nation. Have you
acknowledged Jesus Christ as Lord of your life? If you have, obey what He says
and tell everyone you can about Him. If every born-again child of God would do
what God intended him to do, I have no doubt that we could set this world on
fire for Jesus Christ in a record breaking amount of time.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as
Lord of your life, I beg you to come to do so today. Simply repent completely
of all sin and trust Christ alone to save you. If you will do that, He will
save you today and keep you saved forever.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

It seems that all we hear about on the news nowadays is the 2012
presidential election. So what exactly is it that you are looking for in a
presidential candidate? Most people are mainly focused on the economy. They
want a president that can reduce unemployment and help stabilize our economy.
There are also a lot of people, however, who would just be satisfied with
anybody other than Obama. But what is it that you are looking for in a
presidential candidate? I’ll tell you what I am looking for and what every
born-again child of God ought to be looking for. As followers of Christ, we ought
to be looking for a man who fears God, loves God’s people, and obeys God’s
Word.

Just this week I have made a
commitment to God that I will not vote for the lesser of two evils. Even the
lesser of two evils is still evil. I will only vote for a presidential
candidate who fears, loves, and respects God. I believe that this nation is in
a moral crisis, and the only way to get out of that crisis is to elect a godly
leader. Someone who does not believe that the issues we face today are directly related to the fact that we as a nation have fallen morally does not have what
it takes to lead this nation. And we need someone with a backbone, someone who
is not afraid to look at an issue and say, “That is morally wrong!”

This nation needs a president who
can see the difference between discrimination and moral judgment. Racism is
discrimination. Treating someone differently because of the amount of his
income is discrimination. Treating someone differently because of his age is
discrimination. Saying that it is wrong to kill a baby in the womb is a moral
judgment. Saying that it is wrong to redefine what God defined in the beginning
is a moral judgment. If someone broke into my house and stole all of my
possessions, you would not tell me that it would be discriminatory for me to
press charges against him. If I saw someone brutally beat and murder my elderly
grandmother, no one would say that it would be discriminatory for me to press
charges against that person. God has given us a moral standard to live by. It
is the God-given responsibility of the leaders of this nation to hold the
people of this nation accountable to that standard.

As a nation, we need a president
who is not afraid to stand up and say, “Homosexuality is wrong because God said
so!” We need a president who is not afraid to stand up and say, “Abortion is
wrong because God said so!” Not only do we need a president who really believes
those things, but we need a president who will do something about it. We need a
president who will say that it ought not to be up to the states to decide whether
or not homosexual marriage should be legal or whether or not abortion should be
legal in their particular state. We need a president who will say that this is
the United States of America; therefore, what is legal in one state should be
legal in all fifty states, and what is illegal in one state should be illegal
in all fifty states. Both abortion and homosexual marriage are morally wrong;
therefore, both of them should be made illegal in all fifty states.

I know what you are thinking. “But
there is not a presidential candidate out there…” Oh ye of little faith. God
can do whatever He wants to do. Second Chronicles 7:14 says, “If my people,
which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face,
and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land.” As Adrian Rogers used to say, "We cannot do it without Him, but He will not do it without us." If every born-again child of God will
rise to the challenge, turn from his prideful ways, and earnestly seek the face
of God, I am telling you today that God will send us that man. I believe that
there are enough Christians in this nation to take this nation back for Jesus
Christ. The question is, are we willing to do what God says in order to make it
happen?

Friday, October 7, 2011

Trust in the LORD with
all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways
acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own
eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and
strength to your bones.

Proverbs 3:5-8

Yesterday, someone posted a quote
on facebook, so I looked it up to see where it came from. Lo and behold, it was
from Pocahontas—the Disney version,
of course. That caused me to stumble upon another YouTube video of Pocahontas which caused me to think
seriously about something. What are we as a nation teaching our children
through television?

Before I go any further, please
take the time to watch the video so you will be able to better understand what
I am talking about.

I stopped supporting Disney a few years
ago. However, what I discovered in this short YouTube video gives me a whole
new reason for doing so. Disney knows how to influence children, and they knew
how to do it in a way that is so subtle that very few people will ever question
it. I believe that this particular scene in Pocahontas
was designed to teach children two very specific things. It teaches children to
worship the creation rather than the Creator and it teaches them to trust in
their own human intuition rather than trusting in God.

Grandmother Willow in and of herself is a symbol. Grandmother Willow
was the wisest “person” around. In reality, however, she was not a person at
all; she was a tree. Whenever Pocahontas was in trouble or did not understand
something, she ran to Mother Earth instead of Father God. Grandmother Willow is
nothing less than an attempt to convince children to deify nature and forget
about God.

Just look at the holidays that
people celebrate nowadays. Instead of Easter, they celebrate Earth Day. Instead
of Christmas, they celebrate the winter solstice. This is exactly why
Grandmother Willow existed in the Disney movie Pocahontas. She was designed to promote the idea of worshiping the
creation rather than the Creator.

This entire scene is about trusting
one’s own heart. However, this is far from biblical. Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust
in the LORD with all your heart, and
lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (emphasis added). And if we look
further into Scripture, we will find even more reasons not to listen to our own
hearts. Matthew 15:19 says, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts,
murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…” Mark
7:21 says basically the same thing, “For from within, out of the heart of men,
proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders…” This is exactly why
Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not
on your own understanding.”

As a nation, we need to be teaching
our children that they are not equal with nature. Our children need to know
that they were made in the image of God. Our children need to know that they do
not know everything, but God does. Our children need to know of the One who is
omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent. Our children need to know that Heaven
is real, Hell is real. Most importantly, our children need to know that it is
only by the blood of Jesus that they can be saved.

I believe that a nation is no
greater than its future generation. Right now, I see children who are being
taught to shake their fists in the face of God. As of now, I have no children
of my own. However, I am begging those of you who are parents to “train up
[your] child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

“And thou shalt love the LORD thy
God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And
these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou
shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou
sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest
down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes. And thou shalt write
them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:5-9).

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John 14:6

"Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"

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About Me...

Thank you so very much for reading my blog! My name is Tommy, and I am just an old-fashioned sinner saved by God's amazing grace. I've made so many foolish decisions in my lifetime, many of which I wish I could forget. However, I thank my God that He's not finished with me yet!

I realize there are many people who can write a whole lot better than I can, but no one can write about a more gracious and loving God than I can. Please join me as we explore the awesomeness of God's Word together. Again, thanks for stopping by!

Mission Statement

Since this blog is a combination of what used to be two separate blogs, I have two missions when it comes to posting to this blog. If you are a Christian, my goal is to encourage you in your personal relationship with the Lord. And if you are anyone else, my goal is to help you realize your need for Him in your life.

Thank you so much for reading!

Say an Everlasting "Yes!" to Jesus Today

As mentioned before, I have a number of reasons for having this blog; however, my main goal is for those who do not know Jesus Christ as Lord to come to know Him before it is eternally too late for them. If you do not know Him personally, listen closely.

I often say that the ultimate reality of life is this: God created, I sinned against Him, and then Jesus Christ saved my sorry soul. If you are here today and think you do not need to be saved, you are sadly mistaken. Adrian Rogers said, "There is no one so good that he need not be saved; and there is no one so bad that he cannot be saved."

The Bible says in Romans 3:23 that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." If you have ever lied, stolen, or taken God's name in vain, you are guilty of sinning against the most high God. But it does not stop at that. Jesus said that even if we look with lust at another person, we have committed adultery in our heart--God even sees what others cannot. God is a holy and righteous Judge and will not let any who are guilty enter His Kingdom of Heaven.

This means that, if you have broken God's holy Law even once, you will be in big trouble come Judgment Day. However, two thousand years ago God made provision for you and me when He sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin and later die on an old, rugged cross for all the sins of the world. Friend, not only were you on His mind that day, but He was in your place.

Jesus died so that you may be set free--He took your punishment so that you would not have to. And if you will turn from your sin and trust in Christ alone to save you, He will save you today and keep you saved forever. So please say "no" to sin and an everlasting "yes" to Jesus, today!

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Awesome Quotes

"You might not want to accept Him because He'll change your life, and you'll never be the same." -Facing the Giants

"I'm not the best preacher in the world--there are a lot of people who can preach the Gospel better than I can. But no one can preach a better Gospel than I can because there's only one..." -Adrian Rogers